After years of nomadic temporary employment, advanced degrees, and chocolate ice cream, a rugger with a love of knitting and a cyclist with no domestic skills signed a Ketubah and bought a house in Pittsburgh.

Monday, August 29, 2005

I am so cool. I totally hooked up our wireless router and a wireless card to my laptop. I can make this entry in the living room if I want to. Or the kitchen or closet for that matter! Corey told me I would never be able to figure it out and that I would swear and be angry for hours. Really, my only snafu was not realizing the modem was on standby. 5 minutes installation, tops!

Today I had to go to the financial services building to tell them my address. Despite the Pitt website's encouragement of these visits, you are actually not allowed to change your address regarding tuition refunds. Needless to say, my mother will be receiving and depositing a rather large check for me any time now. The woman at the desk was very, very nice even though a line of confused undergrads wrapped around the building. I showed her the incorrect website and she actually walked it to the webmaster with me in tow so I could see it go on the pile of things to fix.

Whilst in line, I met Patsy from my program. I saw she was reading Faith Adiele's book and asked whether she was in the mfa program and she is! Another new friend for Katy! Also, Patsy and I live 2 blocks away from one another and have the exact same course schedule this semester. I taught her how to buy her lit books on eBay and she taught me how to navigate the student center. What a trade!

I need to go watch some more Deadwood on demand now. I'm totally hooked on that show despite all the eff words!

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Just got back from Penn State, where I enjoyed a thorough physical beating from the undergraduate team. The alumni win every year, but that's just because three or four current Eagles steal the show and burn past the freshmen. Those kiddos are good! I am so proud of that program. I also am beginning to feel old since the freshmen are now waaaayyyy younger than Betsy and include one former high school girl I used to coach!

The banquet Saturday night was nice. I'm really glad I paid $35 for a dried chicken breast and some green beans. I just have to remind myself that it's a fundraiser and I can cook myself good food anytime I want.

Corey and his friends seem impressed with my fruit tart efforts. Which is good because I put in many hours perfecting that recipe during my week of boredom.

I didn't really get to see Corey all that much since he was working so hard. And then all the times I did see him, one of the two of us was way too unsober to spend any quality time. We did remember to give Jordan a drunken rendition of Happy Birthday, though!

Corey was pretty excited that one of my former teammates bought a bike from Freeze Thaw, so he got to chat about bikes with Maggie instead of just sitting like a knot on the wood bench while I reminisced with Jim and Susan.

Also, Jenny Lui brought me a Chinese pointy hat from CHINA!!! I have wanted one my entire life and now I own one! No more sun in these eyes! Amber and I have matching ones that we wore all morning until the match. I had to be reminded to take mine off when I went on the field.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Just when I think it's safe to breathe again and not worry about things, something always pops up to throw a wrench in my plans. I just found out that even though my assistantship is only half time, my commitment prohibits me from working any other jobs through the university. So I had to go quit my tutoring job before I even started! This is so depressing. My options are basically to take out loans or go work at a grocery store.

And then Corey reminded me that I am thisclose to being certified to substitute teach in the public schools. Great idea! Except the mandatory orientation is during my only day of class this week... I called them and they are trying to think of a solution.

On top of this worry and the neverending 8am visits from Comcast, I am right back on the top of the stress pile I thought I had eliminated.

I decided to soothe my worries with some of the yummy beer I bought when Emily Hancheck came to visit. Sweaty Betty sure is delicious! It might even be better than Fat Tire, but don't tell Corey. The young folk of the building had a potluck dinner last night, so that was really fun.

I learned all about how you know if you have a cyst on your butt and thousands of different ways to torment cats. I really enjoy knowing people who are interested in butt cysts. Despite the snafus, the butt cyst conversation really reaffirmed my notion that this is a good place to be.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Well, I have decided I am not cut out for unemployment. This has gone way beyond vacation, considering I've actually been on vacation since early July. It's 1130 am and I've already made stuffed peppers and an apple pie. FROM SCRATCH! I met the people in my department last night and have nothing on my agenda except rugby practice this week, so baking it is.

I actually believe I have watched everything on Comcast's On Demand.

Corey says he is having a much more productive week. Single Speed Worlds were in State College, so that brought a lot of business to Freeze Thaw. They are pretty backed up with orders, which is really awesome, but tiring and stressful for them I guess. How great is it that they made a business and it's doing so well!?!

I'll probably bake them another apple pie for when I go there on Friday since I have nothing else to do.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Well, I've been sans Corey for 3 days. This is the longest we've been apart for months! It's just so strange not to be 6 inches away from him in the Nissan all day... It's hard to motivate myself to do things when I'm by myself and don't have a social network just yet. Or a job to do.

Today I went to the Carnegie Science Center to play with the science stuff and watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on the Omnimax. I felt like I would fall down the theater seats and got very dizzy from the movie. I also felt like my face was too close to everything. It made the movie much larger than anything I could have imagined. It was pretty incredible. I can't wait to watch Narnia and Harry Potter in there.

I wanted desperately not to get lost on the way home, but I just couldn't find route 28. By accident, I went back over the river. So I drove around downtown. It was really pretty. I wished I had come there by bus so I could walk around and enjoy the city and the river front and the parks. Instead, I drove in circles and found myself in the Strip at the markets. They were closed, but now I know where they are for when I want fresh vegetables and beef. I also found our Penske truck, still parked on the curb where we left it 10 days ago. Strange..

Tomorrow I am going to force myself to be productive. I am going to explore the library and find garlic bulbs in this city if it kills me!

Well, we are settled in now. We still have a huge cable running from my office through the living room because Comcast couldn't figure out how to hook up the cable in the other room, but other than that we are set.

Corey is in State College this week working in Freeze Thaw. He is actually there for like 13 days, so I am left on my own to make friends. I'm doing a pretty good job of that. Wednesday night I went out with some other MFA people and learned a lot about surviving the program. Thurday I had rugby again and last night Emily Hancheck came to visit and we went to a famous beer place.

Today, Freya, JP, and Leeann from upstairs invited me to a party and I met a bunch of really cool people. They are having dinner parties and housewarming parties, and go see Harry Potter movies and knit. I'm really excited to be making friends with them.

I got a job tutoring athletes for the athletic academic services department. I'm am the most excited about this because it will really help my chances to be a TA next year. Plus I met even more cool people who are tutors! I am meeting people all over the place. Now the question is will Corey make an outgoing leap and make new friends?

Monday, August 15, 2005

I just found out I got an assistantship with the Journal of Intergenerational Relationships. I will be their Editorial Assistant. So, despite my fervent wish to leave publishing to pursue actual writing, it appears as though I will continue to work in publishing a bit longer. It's paying for grad school, so I can copyedit a few articles as I go! I am super excited about this as well as the chance to substitute teach in local schools to earn some more bucks.

Corey is still working for Sparta Cycling and will continue at least until after the Univest Grand Prix. He is also working away at his bike business. He'll look for a real job in October. Until then, we are eating lots of beans and rice and holding back on the wild, expensive parites we usually go to...

Sunday, August 14, 2005

We moved in on Friday and man was it hot and HUMID! Rented a 16' Penske truck on Thursday and moved out of Bloomfield, which was surprisingly easy despite Ayo showing up to help late, after most of the heavy stuff was loaded (Thanks Ayo!). We stayed the night in Lebanon and then got to the Burgh around 2:30 and got to work, once again without any help.

You better believe that one of the first things we did was hook up the A/C in our bedroom so we could take breaks in there and cool off. It was so bad that you could feel the sweat pouring out of you and every other trip upstairs we'd rip off a paper towel and mop ourselves up. Katy was probably on the verge of heat stroke for a while too and brought the saying 'boy is my face red' to a whole new level! Not only is our apartment on the second floor, but the front door to the building is up 3 sets of stairs, so I guess you could say we got a good workout.

So the minute I saw this building on the Internet, I knew I had to live in it. It didn't take all that much convincing to make Corey feel the same way. It's an old Victorianesque mansion divided into 10 apartments and a penthouse. Our apartment is on the second floor. They all have fireplaces with mantles and built in book cases. As you can imagine, built in book cases are a huge plus. We also have ginormous window boxes in which I will plant vegetables, inspired by Jordan's roommate Amy.

Our kitchen was clearly not designed by a chef and has only one drawer and limited cupboard space. I had to improvise ways to store all my appliances and Corey is hanging a pot rack for me. I have all my spices crammed into one shelf! They are making the dishes smell like oregano and tumeric. Three walls of the kitchen are windows, one wall of which looks right into our neighbors' apartment. Last night we watched Suzanne and Kurt eat some dinner. It was kind of awkward. Like do we say hi while Suzanne empties the dishwasher? This morning over cereal, Kurt and I pretended we didn't see one another reading at our tables.

The dining room is going to be my office. The buttery yellow walls will hopefully inspire some good writing while I'm in school. Corey gets the smaller bedroom as a bike workshop and the big bedroom is our room. His upside down chair got prime location in the living room where we will hopefully have cable sometime soon.

Basically all the apartments in the building are really unique and interesting. Some have stained glass windows and window seats with storage. Others have cool tiles and are painted really neat. There are two other young couples in the building we met so far in addition to 2 old ladies and 2 young women who are all really nice and helpful. Everyone is quick to offer cold water and phone book help to us as we get acquainted and move in.

The neighborhood is pretty neat. I like Pittsburgh better than NJ already because there are street signs. I haven't been lost once and I went to like 5 different places already!